


Silver Linings

by nerdzeword



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nico is a medieval history major, Will is pre-med, Yes it Is, Zombie AU, in which i project my own obsession with castles onto my characters, is this just my zombie apocalypse plan thinly disguised as a fanfic, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23315368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdzeword/pseuds/nerdzeword
Summary: Nico was alone when the world came to an end.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because I have nothing better to do right now, I'm posting some of my unfinished self indulgent (mostly found family) fics in an effort to pretend I have control over my life. They are not even close to finished, so I may end up being able to finish them because I have so much time on my hands, but probably not. They are all dumb, self indulgent and probably will not follow any rules of logic, because i say so. they are also unbeta'd so read at your own risk. I will try and post one chapter a week, but you know, life.
> 
> As always, comment, kudo, etc.

__________

#  1

Nico was alone when the world came to an end. He was alone most of the time, so this wasn’t much of a problem, but had never really felt alone until the world ended. The advantage was, since he didn’t really know anyone, the chances of him having to chop off the head of someone he knew was minimal. You had to find the silver linings when you lived in the apocalypse.

To say that Nico didn’t know anyone, be untrue. He actually knew quite a few people, and cared about a handful. But all of those people spread out across the country, and he had no idea how to and see if they were alright. The last living he had spoken to, was his sister. And that was only because Nico had called her as he watched the outbreak on his shitty hotel tv. The conversation was still so vivid.

“Hazel! Thank gods. Are you okay?”

“Nico? I’m fine. What’s on?” 

“Turn on the TV.” 

“... Oh my gods.”

“You and Frank need to get out of the city. Where’s dad?”

“I dunno, haven’t seen him for a few days.”

“Look. Write him a note, and go to camp. You remember how to get there, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“It should be closed right now, and it’s got everything you need to be self sustaining. Go there, and I’ll meet you there okay?”

“Do you really think it’s going to get that bad?”

“I think it already has.”

“Nico. I-” The line cut dead.

That was three weeks before. Nico hadn’t seen a living human in over a week now, unfortunately that meant he saw an excess of zombies. Nico trudged through the muddy road, looking for an abandoned building he could squat in. He would be dead meat if he was outside when the rain started again. Literally.

He spotted a driveway through the trees and made a decision as he felt a couple of drops hit his face. It would to do.

He gripped his sword tightly as he climbed the steps of looked like an old retirement cabin. The sword seemed a bit out of place, but what the movies never showed, was that if you have a gun, you have to have ammo. Swords were simpler. He pushed the door open, and was immediately forced to bring his sword up to block. He looked up to see a baseball bat (now featuring a large gash.)

“What the fuck?” He looked past the bat to the person holding it, and was caught off guard. The guy looked to be around the same age as him, he was covered in dirt and dried blood, but even so, Nico could make out a sprinkling of freckles across his nose, and blond curls that looked like they had at one point been styled. But his most prominent feature by far, were his eyes, which were the color of tropical water, and sparkled in the halflight. Nico put down his sword, and dragged his eyes away from the man. Now was not the time to remember how gay he was. 

“You’re not a zombie?” the other man interrupted Nico from his scoping of the rest of the cabin.

“No shit Sherlock.” Nico huffed in annoyance. The dude dropped his bat to his side and gave him a crooked grin that made Nico’s stomach flutter uncomfortably.

“Oh good, you’re way too pretty to be a zombie.” Nico was grateful when another voice called out of the shadows.

“Will? Are you flirting with the zombies again?” Nico raised an eyebrow and the boy- Will- blushed. 

“Jeez Kay, way to embarrass me in front of the new guy.” The figure stepped the light and Nico saw that it was a girl, maybe around Hazel’s age, 21, with freckles that matched Will’s, and hair that looked like it had at one point been bright green. Nico thought he could see her roots starting to peek out as well. 

“Who is the new guy anyway?”

“Nico.” Nico didn’t her his hand, and she didn’t give him hers. Nico thought he might like the girl already. As much as he liked anyone anyway.

“I’m Kayla, that’s Will. Austin is still sleeping in the room. Welcome to the club I guess.”

“Yay. A club.”

“We are the lamest club ever if that’s the case, seeing as three fourths of us are related.” commented dryly. Kayla gestured to Nico to take a seat at the table. 

“So. Nico. What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

“I’m looking for my sister.”

“In the woods?”

“No.”

“So why are you in the woods?”

“You sure are nosy.”

“It’s the end of the world, I have the right to be nosy, the question, deathboy.” 

“Deathboy?” The entire time Kayla was grilling him on his life story, Will was staring at him. Nico was starting to have a hard time hiding his blush, honestly, did the man have no decency? “Can I help you?” He snapped. Will jumped, and Nico had to hold back a smirk. 

“Sorry, it’s just… where are you from?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your accent. I can’t place it.”

“Oh. Um. Italy.”

“That’s so cool! Do you speak like Italian then?”

“ Vaffanculo” Nico replied with a completely straight face.

“Awesome!” 

“Why are you guys here?” 

“You know, running from zombies and such. There were more of us but…” She didn’t have to finish, Nico knew what she meant. 

“How many?” 

“Three. More of our siblings. Lee was killed distracting some of the zombies from us. Michael was caught by one of them- he was holding our little sister Victoria. She was bitten before we got to her.” Nico winced but didn’t say anything. He knew what it was like to lose a sister. 

“What about you?” Kayla leaned forward on the table. Nico played dumb.

“What about me?” 

“You lose anyone?”

“Dunno.”

“That’s the worst I think.”

“Yup.” Nico popped the P and leaned back in his chair, suddenly tired. He forgot how exhausting people were. Will was watching him again, but Nico was too tired to care anymore, he wondered if they had any food, or water, he wondered if they knew basic survival skills, they talked an awful lot to have made it thus far. He should stay, them how to survive, but he had to get to Hazel. Hazel was the most important thing right now.

“When was the last time you slept?” Will spoke up suddenly, and Nico almost jumped.

“I dunno, two? Three days?” Almost as if a switch had been flipped, Will was a different person. There was a dangerous spark in his eye as he stood up and dragged Nico to the bedroom. Nico tried to resist, but he really was too confused and exhausted to protest too hard.

“Austin! Get up! New Guy needs the bed!” The boy in the bed sat straight up, eyes wide.

“New guy?”

“Move it! Kayla will explain.” Austin sighed in defeat and left the room. Will shoved him onto the bed, not unkindly, and Nico was taken a bit off guard.

“At least try to get a little sleep, we can’t find your sister if you die of exhaustion.”

“Wait. We?” Will rolled his eyes and grinned again, his dimples showing off his- really adorable- freckles. 

“Of course! I’m not going to let you go out there looking for her by yourself you know. That’s how you get bitten. Where is she anyway?”

“She moved to San Francisco for college last year.”

“San Fra- Nico the west coast is a wasteland!”

“I know, which is why I told her when this whole fiasco first started that I was going to meet up with her at this little camp we used to go to in the mountains.” Will sat down at the end of the bed and stared at him.

“But still- that’s a way for you both to have to travel.” Nico snapped, the last thing he needed was a beautiful blond boy reminding him of all of his insecurities. He knew the chances of Hazel and Frank getting there in time were slim, and even slimmer were the chances of them staying alive once they got there, but Hazel was incredibly strong, and if anyone could do it, she could. He had to believe in her, it was all he had left.

“You don’t think I know that?” Nico flopped backwards on the bed and sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just- I have to believe she’s alive. She’s all I’ve got left.” Will stared at him, with his tragically beautiful eyes. 

“You lied when Kayla asked if you lost anyone.” Nico snorted.

“I didn’t lose anyone to zombies. I think she might have preferred the zombies. No, I lost Bianca to cancer.”

“Oh. Was she your girlfriend?” Nico let out a hollow laugh.

“Hell no, I’m too gay for that. She was my sister.” Will made a strangled noise but didn’t answer. After a moment of comfortable silence, Will stood up.

“Get some sleep. You’re probably going to need it.” For once, Nico didn’t have to be told twice, he drifted to sleep with images of blue eyes and a sunny smile dancing in front of his eyes.

“Nico? Wake up.” Nico jolted awake and immediately reached for his sword. “Woah dude. Chill. We’re about ready to go, we just need to know where we’re going.” Nico gazed at the boy standing over him. Oh. So that wasn’t a dream then. He groaned and sat up. Will was way too cheerful for it barely dawn. He considered telling them to leave off, that he could find his sister on his own, but wandering around Zombieland was always safer with a group, if for no other reason than they made a cannon fodder. Not that Nico would know about that, he was unfortunately incapable of leaving people behind. Even people he didn’t like much. 

“Do you have a map?” As it turned out, Will had a surplus of maps. Nico opened it up so they could see the entire area of the midwest. 

“So we’re here, just outside of Fort Smith. So long as we stay out of all of the large cities, the area is rural enough that we should be able to avoid the zombies without too much trouble. We just need to steal a car and get going really.”

“Without too much trouble? Do you know how often we’ve nearly been eaten on these rural roads? Especially after we had to drop our truck.” Nico waved his hand at Kayla’s protestations. 

“Si si si, but this is nothing compared to New York.” All three of the others stopped and stared at him.

“You came all the way from New York?” Will was the one who spoke this time. Nico shrugged. 

“ _ Yes. _ Now focus people. Where is the closest car?” 

“About a half mile to the south. I don’t know how much gas it has though.” Will said Nico waved his hand again. 

“As long as it has some, it’s enough.” 

“Where are we going anyway?”

“The camp is Buena Vista, Colorado.” Austin blinked at him.

“Well then. And you’re sure-” Apparently Kayla and Will had already filled him in.

“She’ll be there. And even if she’s not, the entire camp is self sustaining, so we’ll be able to at least take some time to rest and recoup.” Will gave him a brilliant smile and Nico felt his heart flutter. 

They the car right where Will had said it would be. Nico promptly opened the hood and started working some of the magic Leo had forced him to learn. Granted, this ill fated trip was the first time he had ever tried actually doing it himself, rather than just listening while Leo talked. But he liked to think he had become pretty good at it. He gave an order to the siblings and the engine roared to life. He grinned a bit and slammed the hood shut. It was go time. 


	2. Chapter 2

________

#  2

Will could not believe his luck, first a beautiful foreign boy appears on his doorstep with a smirk and a sword. Both of which were  _ very _ hot in his expert opinion, but then he also just happens to be able to hotwire a car, something that had been keeping Will and his siblings from traveling as fast. Not that it really mattered in their case, since they didn’t really have a destination in mind. That was another thing he was grateful to Nico for, it was hard to motivate your siblings to go places and do things, if you didn’t have a place to go or a thing to do. 

Did he mention that Nico was really  _ really _ pretty? 

Nico was quiet as he drove. Will couldn’t even imagine living through the Apocalypse by himself, and in New York too? He had a new sort of admiration for the small Italian. They were driving down a mountain pass on Route 66, trying to get Austin to stop trying to play the song on his Sax, when the car started to sputter and die. 

Nico muttered a string of curses and pulled the car off to the side of the road. 

“Looks like we’re walking for awhile.” He pulled his sword out of the backseat and started forward. Will followed with a sigh and a sad look at the car. He would miss it. 

They had been walking for a little over an hour when they came up on what looked like a rest stop. Will groaned. Rest stops were usually a good thing, but in the Apocalypse, they also tended to mean zombies. They had all learned that the hard way. In fact Austin still hadn’t found a new weapon since he had lost his kitchen knife in some zombie’s chest. It was also how they had discovered that the Saxophone confused them.

Will gripped the strap of his bag tighter as Kayla stopped and pulled out her bow in preparation. Austin pulled his Saxophone closer, and Nico tightened his grip on his sword. Sure enough, as soon as they reached the parking lot, at least ten different zombies looked up to stare at them with dead eyes. That was the worst part in Will’s opinion. The fact that they looked like regular people, but not. That they were just normal people who had lost the spark in their eyes that made them  _ alive. _

_ People without a spark that actively wanted to kill him and his family.  _ He corrected himself. Kayla picked off a few of them with some well aimed shots, but she was soon out of arrows. Several first place medals in archery championships didn’t mean anything if you ran out of arrows, Will thought bitterly. Austin started playing his Sax, which confused the Zombies a bit, and that’s when Nico struck. 

He was a whirlwind of motion, slicing through the zombies as if they were nothing, but even with all of his skill, he couldn’t do it alone. The only problem was that Kayla was still out of arrows, Austin’s Sax only confused the zombies, and Will didn’t have a weapon at all. Not that he would be much good with one if he did, but they were all sitting ducks just then. Or they were, until an arrow came whizzing past his head and straight into the forehead of one of the zombies Nico was fighting. The first arrow was followed by a volley of them and Will risked a look over his shoulder to find a group of girls in a large white van. 

Within minutes, the zombies were all scattered around the pavement. Kayla immediately started collecting her arrows from the zombies. Nico stuck his sword in several others. Just to be sure. The girls that had helped them trotted over. They were led by a tall girl with a fading blue streak in her hair. She was dressed in an old band t-shirt, ripped jeans and a leather jacket. Nico looked up from his zombie smashing.

“Thanks Thals.” He said, as if it weren’t amazing to find someone you knew on the side of the road in the middle of the apocalypse. 

“Oh come off it di Angelo and give me a hug.” Nico smirked at her and Will thought it was extremely fitting that his last name was di Angelo. Of course his name would be ‘the angel.’

“And if I refuse?” Will didn’t even see her move, but a moment later she had Nico in a headlock and was ruffling his hair. 

“Ow! Cazzo Thalia. Vaffanculo!” She let go of him and he adjusted his aviators jacket with a scowl. 

“It’s good to see you again kid. Who are your friends?”

“This is Will, Kayla and Austin.” Thalia nodded at them politely. 

“I’m Thalia. Nico’s cousin. Come, this is a rest stop is it not? Let’s rest!” Thalia led them up to the stop and a couple of her friends pulled some food out of their van and laid it out for them all. When they had all settled in, Nico began demanding answers from his cousin.

“Have you met anyone else?” Thalia’s expression darkened and she shook her head. 

“No. You would be the first. I keep hoping- never mind that. Weren’t you in New York? How did you escape that shithole?” Will leaned in closer to them, he wanted to hear this story too. Nico shrugged lightly.

“I was at the Met, working on my thesis, when the world went to shit. I grabbed one of the swords from the museum, and skedaddled.” Will had a feeling that there was a lot more to his story than Nico was letting on, but he was still reeling from the fact that Nico had been in college, and worked on his thesis in the  _ Met  _ of all places. Will had kind of assumed from how fast he had hotwired the car that he was a mechanic or something. 

“And Hazel?” Nico winced.

“Fine, last I talked to her. We’re actually on our way to meet her, at camp.” Thalia nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s a good plan. I would join you on the journey, but I was on my way to- well, to see if I can find Jason. Last I heard, he was visiting Piper in L.A.” Nico nodded. 

“Have you heard from Percy or Annabeth?” 

“Not since before. But you know Annabeth. She’s always got a plan. And Percy’s almost as good as you with a sword. They’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Hey, we can’t worry about them.”

“If it were just them, I wouldn’t be worried. But they have-”

“Nico. We have to believe they’ll be fine.” He nodded slowly.

“When was the last time you talked to Reyna?” Thalia winced. 

“Not since before. Last I heard she was in Seattle, visiting Hylla.” Nico nodded again. Will watched their back and forth with a strange feeling in his gut, almost as if he didn’t belong here, watching them. The two of them were obviously close, but despite how obviously happy they were to see each other, there was a sense of trepidation between them. As if they weren’t sure if they were allowed to be happy. 

Will wondered what it was like to have that many people to care about. Sure, he had a big family, but half of them were gone already, the few remaining siblings he had were spread across the country, with their own mom’s. And yeah, he had friends, but they too, were spread around the country, at their own respective colleges. He could only hope that he would possibly run into Cecil, who was going to school in Alamosa, Colorado. That was on the way to Gunnison right? It didn’t matter either way, because there was no way that Cecil was probably still alive. Let alone Lou Ellen or his remaining siblings.

There was no way he was going to see any of them, so why bother hoping. Then again, Nico had probably thought he would never see Thalia again either. Even Will’s thoughts were a mess. 

The group stayed in the rest stop for the night before deciding that it was too exposed to stay any longer. The Hunters, as Thalia’s group called themselves, offered to take them as far as Albuquerque before they all split off in different directions. It was a tight squeeze in the Hunters’ van, but Will couldn’t even be mad at it if it meant he no longer had to walk.

One of the hunters had to physically wrestle Austin’s sax from him in order to get him to stop playing it. He pouted the rest of the trip. Nico had spent the trip going with Thalia, heads bent over a map. Will tried not to feel jealous about him spending time with Thalia. It made sense after all, Tahlia was his family. Maybe the only family he had left. He directed them to pull off to the side and pick up a different car a few miles outside of Albuquerque, so they could take a path that didn’t lead them through a ‘Zombie Zone’ as Austin had dubbed them. Nico hugged his cousin goodbye and promised to see her again. Will hoped they would see her again.

They were only diving for a few minutes before Austin had continued playing jazz tunes on his sax. Will was just grateful that it wasn’t Route 66 again. It was another hour of mind numbing jazz before they felt something crash into the hood of their car. Nico slammed on the breaks, and Will clutched his bag to his chest. If it was a zombie, they were essentially screwed, since there was no way they could fight in such an enclosed space. He really needed to find himself an actual weapon.

Then he heard the swearing. 

Will was out of the door before any of the others could blink. Outside of the car, he stared in shock at the girl who was now sitting cross legged on top of the roof, nursing a broken arm. Will would have recognized her anywhere.

“What the hell were you doing, you crazy bitch.” She looked up, and her smile could have lit up the sun. 

“William darling! Lovely to see you again!” 

“Don’t William me. What the Hell, Lou.” He helped her down and took a look at her arm. Nico leaned against the car.

“Nice of you to drop by.” He commented dryly, and Will kind of wanted to hug him for the terrible joke. Of course Will always kinda wanted to do a bit more than hug him. Lou Ellen looked up at Nico and smirked. 

“Hi, I’m Lou Ellen. And you are  _ so  _ Will’s type.” Will pulled the bandage too tight on her arm. “Ow! I thought you were supposed to help your patients, Doctor boy.” 

“I thought I told you to stay out of my love life.” 

“Well maybe if you actually showed some ini-

“We’re in the middle of an apocalypse Lou!” She waved her unbroken hand as if this fact were insignificant. Will glanced at Nico and it looked like the other boy was blushing. Well, at least Will wasn’t the only one who was mortified by Lou Ellen.

“As hilarious as this is for me, we should probably get moving.” Said Kayla from the backseat. Will nodded at her and packed up his bag. Kayla and Austin moved over so that Lou Ellen could fit into the backseat with them. They were all silent as Nico started driving again. Each of them lost in their own thoughts. 

Surprisingly, it was Nico who was the first to speak. 

“Where are you headed Lou Ellen?”

“I was on a mission to track down the squad. Looks like the squad found me first though.”

“Squad?”

“Willy here, and our friend Cecil. He’s going to school in Alamosa. I was going to school in Pheonix. Will was the only one who stayed close to home. Dunno why. Texas sucks. I was a sitting duck in Arizona, so I thought I might as well try and find my boys. I heard Texas was overrun from some other travellers that were going the opposite direction, so I figured I’d just head towards Cecil and hope Will thought to do the same. Obviously I was right. I tried waving to you guys from the overpass, but you obviously didn’t see me, so I had to get creative.”

Nico hummed in acknowledgement, then directed his attention to Will. “How did you know what to do with her arm?” Will smiled at him.

“I am- was, a pre-med major.” Nico nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s what Bianca wanted to do. Well, when she didn’t have dreams of moving into the mountains and living off the land. I love her dearly, but she was nuts.” Nico sent him a small smile, and Will had to remind himself to breathe at the sight. “Maybe that’s just a brother thing though. Everyone thinks their sister is crazy.” Will smiled.

“Yeah. Is Hazel crazy too?” Nico shook his head.

“No. Well, yes. But no. Hazel is perfect.” he leaned back thoughtfully “Hazel’s different though. She’s my baby sister.” 

“Kayla’s my baby sister, but she’s definitely not perfect. She’s also crazy.” Kayla reached over and punched him. “Ow! What the hell Kay?” She only stuck her tongue out at him. Austin started to play his sax again, much to everyone’s chagrin, and Will turned to stare out the window. 

He knew what Nico meant though. Victoria may not have been his youngest sister, but she had been his baby sister. And she had been perfect. Which included being perfectly awful. He wondered what had happened to all of his other brothers and sisters? With Michael and Lee gone, he was now the oldest. And yeah, he had been closest to the five he lived with, but he was still the big brother, he was still responsible for the others. They drove north, stopping once to switch cars and scavenge for food in a small town called Las Vegas, New Mexico. Will had always wanted to visit Las Vegas, this was not the Vegas he was imagining however. The five of them piled out of the car, in front of what used to be a Walgreens, and prepared themselves for a mad hunt for food. 

Even Will had armed himself this time. 

They split into teams and went in, stepping through the already smashed doors of the store. Will was paired with Nico, and he took his job very seriously, pulling anything that looked even slightly useful off the shelf and dropping it into his basket. He made a note to himself to find a nice backpack or duffel bag to store everything in later. 

“Why do we need so many bottles of Aspirin?” Nico hissed at him.

“You want to make your camp a base right? A place where people can live Zombie free?”

“In theory, yes?”

“Well medication doesn’t grow on trees, Nico. It has to be made, which means that we will eventually run out of it. I would like to have a stockpile before that happens.” Nico was going to answer, when they heard the familiar sound of Austin’s Sax, and followed the sound through the empty store. They found the other three surrounded by six zombies. One of them had an arrow in its shoulder, and another had Lou Ellen’s knife in its throat. Will thought that Austin’s Sax was probably the only thing keeping them alive at that point. Nico quickly launched himself at the zombies, slicing his way through them like they were butter. Slicing through five of them anyway, the sixth came up behind him, teeth snapping. Will didn’t even think, he just threw the spade that was sitting on the shelf next to him, landing it in the zombie’s chest with a thunk. It stopped the zombie for long enough that Nico could finish him off with a sword. Nico turned and stared at him.

“What? I’m not completely useless. Now come on, before their friends arrive.” Will was just glad that the spade hadn’t been one of the ones in the three pack with other gardening tools. And that the one he’d grabbed was fairly aerodynamic. If it weren’t the apocalypse, he would probably have called to complain about how sharp it had been though. Spades were not supposed to be sharp enough to not have any issues cutting through, admittedly rotting, flesh. Lou Ellen rolled her eyes at him as she walked past.

“You have it so bad.” She patted him on the shoulder as he scowled at her. 


	3. Chapter 3

________________

#  3

Just when Nico thought he couldn’t like Will any more, he had to go and do something like this. It was really kind of inconsiderate. They were driving again, barely a half hour outside of Vegas, when Will told him to pull off. 

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!” Nico pulled off to the side of the road. Will pointed to the sign that was now behind them. “That right there is a hospital. We’re going to need to go there.”

“Are you crazy? Do you know how many zombies are going to be in there?” 

“Yes. But it’s not going to be nearly as many as there are in any other hospital we’re going to come across. You don’t get much more rural than this. And we’re going to need that medicine at some point. And bandages.” Nico groaned. But he knew Will was right, they had to get the things they needed now, because there was no way they were going to be able to come back for them later. 

“Cazzo.” Nico shut off the car. “Just you and me. Lou Ellen is injured and I doubt the Sax and the bow are going to be much good in such a small space.” Will nodded as Kayla and Austin protested. 

Will emptied out his duffel bag, no doubt so that he’d have room to put everything they were planning on acquiring. Nico fingered his sword as they walked towards the hospital. He was suddenly struck with how awkward this situation had the potential to become. He thought about Lou Ellen’s comment. He had thought that she was just saying it to bug Will, but there was something in the look that Will had given him after, that made him think that might not actually be the case. And he hadn’t denied it. At all. 

Nico sliced through a zombie before they were even in the door, quickly leaning over and unclipping the keys from its belt. He tossed them to Will. 

“That’s disgusting!”

“Do you want to find your stuff or not?” Will made a face but didn’t answer.

They crept through the hospital, keeping an eye out for zombies while Will dug through every closet and cupboard he could find, looking for things he could use. He threw rolls of bandages, and boxes of spiderman bandaids into his bag, along with packages of needles and tubes. Nico sliced through the few zombies they came across, but every moment they were there, the feeling that something was very very wrong, kept growing in his gut. He realized why, when they turned the corner to find a mob of zombies congregated around a door. Nico quickly pulled Will back behind the wall. 

“What are they doing there? You’d think they’d be after us.” Nico muttered. But none of the zombies had moved from their spots at the door.

“I dunno Nico, but we need to get through that door. That’s where the blood bank is.” Nico stared at him. Will sighed. 

“Nico. The most common procedure to take place at a hospital is a blood transfusion. But for that, you need blood.”

“Can’t you-”

“No, you can not just use any blood.”

“Can’t you just draw more?” 

“Yes, but for that you need to know the person’s blood type, and the person donating’s blood type. And you have to be able to draw the blood and give it to the patient in time. It’s better to just have the blood on hand. Besides, the stuff I would need to draw blood is in that room as well.” Nico groaned. 

“Well then. I guess we’re going in there.” He stood up straight and started towards the zombies. Will followed him with his own knife. Luckily for them, they had the advantage. Nico swung his sword and chopped the heads off the first line of zombies, then swung it again and took off the heads of the second row. By this time, there were only eight of them left, but the ones that were left had realized that they were there. Will threw the knife Lou Ellen had given him before they left, hitting one of them in the chest. He quickly followed his knife, picking it up and swinging it again, stabbing another one that had come up behind Nico. 

Nico finished off the others and stared at Will, who was now covered in blood splatter. Before he had even thought about it, he was reaching out and wiping the blood off of the other boy’s face. They stared at one another for a moment before the door burst open. 

“THAT. WAS. BRILLIANT!” Nico and Will looked at one another before looking back at the girl who had burst through the door. An older boy with fading bright pink hair came running in after her. 

“Lacy!” He stopped and looked at Nico and Will. 

“You’re not dead.” Nico and Will both shook their heads. “Well, then get in here quick!” The boy ushered them into the room and barricaded the door again. Nico watched as Will started grabbing things off of the cabinets and shoving them into his already packed bag.

“How many of you are there?” Nico asked the boy. He looked like he was about Nico’s age, maybe younger. 

“Seventeen.” Nico nodded. That explained why the zombies were all congregated on that door then. “Come on.” The boy waved them forward. “Come meet everyone else.” They led them through the hallways of the hospital as the older one, whose name was Mitchell, explained what was going on. 

“All of us were in the children’s ward for one reason or another, when the outbreak reached here a week ago. One of the nurses sacrificed herself to block those doors back there. Blocking the doors, and keeping the rest of us safe. But at the same time, there was no way to escape.” Nico blinked when he walked into the room. The ward looked like a daycare. Sure there were a few older people, but there wasn’t anyone over Nico’s age.

“What happened to all of their parents?” Will asked.

“Turned. All of them. There were only five of them in here when the outbreak started, and they tried to find a way out a few days ago. We haven’t seen them since.” 

“That’s awful.” Will stated, looking around the room again. Nico hated this place. He hated hospitals in general, but he especially hated children’s wards. They reminded him too much of his sister’s last days. 

“We should get going.” He told Mitchell. The other boy nodded and whistled to catch the other kids’ attention. 

“Do we plan on taking all of them with us?” Will muttered to Nico. 

“What else do you suggest we do, Will? There’s no way they’re going to survive on their own out here.” Will nodded. 

“We’re going to need a bigger car then.” 

“There was a van in the parking lot I think. We can use that, and just siphon gas from some of the other cars to get us further.” Will nodded again.

“I’ll be back. I’m going to go get that blood I need. Then we can get these kids out of here.” Nico nodded at him before wandering over to help Mitchell get some of the younger kids ready. Nico knew it wasn’t safe for them to bring this many people along at once. It would attract more attention. But they needed help, all of these kids were now just as orphaned as he was, and he couldn’t bear to see them get hurt. Not when he could do something to help.

Nico started looking around the room, trying to find anything and everything he could give to the kids, so they had a chance at defending themselves. Instead he used the keys to open a locked door further down the hallway, and found something even better. It seemed to be a break room of sorts, and Nico looked in glee at the rows of vending machines lining the wall. He found a couple of backpacks hanging on the wall and dumped them out, then used the butt of his sword to break the glass of the machines. He emptied the bags of chips and snack bars into the backpacks and looked around again for anything else he could use. By the time he had finished gutting the room, he had enough impromptu weapons to arm at least half of the kids. It would have to do, they had to get out of there before the night hit. 

He walked back into the room to find the place in a state of panic. There were kids running everywhere, and at least three of them were crying. 

“What the-”

“Language!” Will piped up, catching his eye. 

“What happened in here?”

“Apparently there was a stray zombie in one of the private rooms on the other side of the wing. It scared one of the younger kids, and now everyone is in a panic.” Nico sighed. 

“We have to get going. We don’t have time for this.” He grabbed one of the older boys and slipped one of the backpacks over his shoulders before passing him a metal table leg. 

“Choose a younger kid. You’re now in charge of making sure they are ready to go.” Then he proceeded to repeat the process until he had run out of makeshift weapons. Will looked impressed.

“How did you-”

“I was a camp counselor.”

“So was I, but I can’t even get my own siblings to- Why are you smirking at me like that?”

“I also have a sword. That makes me the coolest one in the room.” Will stared at him. 

“Oh.” Nico smiled and bumped shoulders with him, before wandering off to get all of the kids rounded up. 


End file.
